Ray Balcer, the first designated Officer in Charge of
Detachment A, 3902nd
APS (soon to be known as the SAC Elite Guard) was born in Ponca
City, Oklahoma the son of Leo and Emma Von Elm Balcer.

Ray Balcer was Honors Graduate from the ROTC program at
Oklahoma A & M (now Oklahoma State) In recognition of his
achievement, Ray was granted a regular commission in the Air Force,
rather than the normal reserve commission.

Upon his assignment to Offutt AFB, Ray Balcer joined the
staff of Major Herbert L Meyer, Deputy Commander for Security/Law
Enforcement for the 3902nd
Air Base Wing. It was at this time that General Curtis LeMay
restated his desires for an elite guard force for the Headquarters
and when
the SAC Provost Marshal of that day did not move fast
enough in this area, he was replaced.

The project was
then given to Lt/Col. Charles Conway and Lt/Col (then Major) Jim
Black of the Headquarters Provost Marshal staff. This team of
officers, in conjunction with Captain Ray Balcer and Major Meyer
, came up with
the uniform and accouterments currently worn by the SAC guard and
drill team except for the shade 193
shirt and
trousers and blue wool shirt which were procured some time later.
The special items of equipment were procured from appropriated.
funds via certain nefarious negotiations in coordination with
Headquarters SAC materiel people.
Captain James McGee (then Lt)
of the Headquarters Provost Marshal staff and Captain Ray Balcer of
my staff then
worked up the changing of the guard ceremony. Field maintenance
shops on Offutt
fabricated the shield used in this ceremony. Several months
after activation of the new SAC Headquarters by late spring of 1957
the unit was
operational with an elite guard and drill team. At that time, Lt
Ray Balcer was formally designated as OIC.

The Elite Guard was truly a unique organization within
the USAF. Its establishment was precedent setting; particularly
noteworthy was a charter that:

1.Authorized command
wide recruitment for its membership.

2.Created a unique
uniform – “one of a kind” which has never been replicated.

3.Authorized the blue
beret as its headgear. This became the prototype for the headgear
now used by all security forces Air Force wide.

4.First to transition
to the 38 caliber revolver as its side arm from the traditional 45
caliber automatic pistol.

5.Became a prototype
for innovative security measures introduced by SAC to counter
espionage and sabotage threats.

Ray
Balcer left the Air Police Career field during the 1960’s finishing
his career in the field of Manpower Resources.

When
Colonel Balcer retired, he was the recipient of the Bronze Start,
the Meritorious Service Medal and the Legion of Merit w/ oak leaf
cluster.

Submitted
by John Achelpohl

A Perspective by Major
Herbert Meyer

circa 1957 - 1964

A Perspective by Col.
Robert Swing (Ret)

A Perspective by Luther Meilahn, Published in the SAC
Magazine, Klaxon

Facsimile of a
history produced by the 3906th Special Security Squadron

00

SAC Elite Guard

"recruiting tape" circa mid 1980's, probably accompanied by a
slideshow. Run time for
this tape is about 9 minutes

To download audio files to your computer, right
click the "click Here for Audio" and select 'save Target As' then
select your desk top or folder.
When opening the file you may receive a warning, click to play, the file is
ok.

added 16 May 09

SAC Elite Guard

Formal Guardmount Ceremony (1967).
Run time for this tape is about 9 minutes

From SAC History and personal files of
General Wilbur Creech. Pages without pertinent data were omitted. Uniform photos
that followed the descriptive pages below were omitted because of poor picture
quality. Samples of uniform items described can be found below or in
galleries on site.